A Tatsu train of riders flying face down along the track through its green supports, pine trees beside it and blue sky
Face downflying, most of the ride

Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California

Tatsu

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“You are flying through this entire layout.”

POV
Ride it: back row POV
Back row
It's something out of a dream.
What riders love
  • The pretzel loop feels like an African bush elephant is trying to step on you and it's the most intense element on the West Coast arguably.
  • I recorded all POVs of my time at the park and this specific element was the only time I was literally screaming "Oh My God!" as I'm borderline graying out during the element.
  • Tatsu literally feels like its trying to kill you, it felt like my face was getting ripped off.
  • The inversions are all highlights, with the graceful ones and the rip-your-face-off pretzel loop.
  • There's a sternum-crushing pretzel loop that makes your feet fall asleep, graceful inversions that give a great view of the treetops, and an inline twist followed by a helix, both of which have great forces.
  • Forceful first drop into back to back Corkscrews in different directions is disorienting and awesome, and the views are incredible.
  • You fly over trees and walkways, twisting towards the sky as well, not being able to see the track or train that holds you.
  • You’re twisting and turning over the forest like a bird and it’s awesome!
  • This is a flyer built on top of a mountain, such that you get a real strong sensation of HEIGHT throughout the ride.
Tatsu Watch Performance Should I ride it? Specifications Reviews Planning History

Watch POVs and more

2022 Tatsu Flying Roller Coaster On Ride Front Seat 4K POV Six Flags Magic Mountain

youtube.com › Theme Park POV

Dec 2022 Tatsu Flying Roller Coaster at Night On Ride Back Seat 4K POV Six Flags Magic Mountain

youtube.com › Theme Park POV

Tatsu POV 5K AMERICA’S BEST FLYING COASTER! Six Flags Magic Mountain, CA

youtube.com › East Coasters

Tatsu (4K 2016 OFF Ride POV)- Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA

youtube.com › Coaster Crusader

Tatsu Review Six Flags Magic Mountain B&M Flying Coaster

youtube.com › Coaster Studios

Tatsu Review, Six Flags Magic Mountain B&M Flying Coaster | Best Flyer in America?

youtube.com › Canobie Coaster

Tatsu Review - Six Flags Magic Mountain | The Best Flying Coaster?

youtube.com › CoasterEndeavors

Tatsu Commecrial (2006) Six Flags Magic Mountain

youtube.com › Six flags Magic Mountain

Tatsu Six Flags Magic Mountain Pretzel Loop 2022

youtube.com › tatsurider

Tatsu @ Six Flags Magic Mountain

youtube.com › Julio & Des

Tatsu Six Flags Magic Mountain broken

youtube.com › Keith's Transit Experiences

🎢 Tatsu 🐉 @ Six Flags Magic Mountain ⛰️

youtube.com › Mashed Tomatoes

Performance

Vs. other coasters at Six Flags Magic Mountain

The positive forces, along with the airtime you get on the Zero-G rolls, are perfect.

Erik C.

Most of this ride is a wonderful, floaty, flying experience...

Your Coaster Friend

First drop lacks airtime, but I love the flying sensation, you really feel like a bird when hitting the zero G rolls.

California Coaster Addict

It was surprisingly comfortable, I never felt nauseous like the restraints were trying to make me lose my lunch the way they do on other flyers.

David

Buttery smooth for its age, great location flying around the wooded mountain, and the pretzel loop’s prolonged intensity is a definite highlight.

Joshua Hart

It just feels beautiful in those flying restraints, and the views of the park, smoothness, inversions, and speed are so perfect here.

Vivaan Chopra

The only flying coaster I’ve ever been on, and it’s so comfortable, smooth, and crazy intense.

Kellen Grady

That’s what I don’t like about these is like it hurts the neck to try to look forward.

Marcus Leshock

The pretzel loop feels like an African bush elephant is trying to step on you and it’s the most intense element on the West Coast arguably.

Majorian

And then the pretzel loop comes out of nowhere and is 1000x more intense then the rest of the ride, causing me to gray out.

Ryan Armstrong

Rode back left and got insane forces on the pretzel loop, but everything else was honestly trash.

Coaster Carl

But the pretzel loop is just too intense for me.

Proxy 303

That is arguably one of the most intense elements on any coaster possibly in the world in my opinion.

Coaster Voyager

Plus the pretzel loop on Tatsu is HUGE, which makes for some great positive G’s.

@gplez91

Super smooth ride, and feels very tall and very fast. Probably the best flying coaster that I’ve been on.

Rooted_Dirt me

You go through 3 inversions with quick barrel rolls and fast pacing. Then comes by far the best element on the ride and personally my most intense moment on a coaster of all time: the pretzel roll.

Max S.

The first half of the ride is fast and graceful, and then all of a sudden you hit the pretzel loop, and I can tell you that knowing it’s there does not prepare you for how it actually feels to be on...

Elijah Bacelieri

You are flying through this entire layout.

Coaster Voyager

The lines are normally short as it’s an underrated coaster in a bad location (by itself on a hill), but it still takes forever.

Erik Hortsch

The dispatches are slow but I don’t blame them since flying coasters take forever to load, but they should try using that second station.

Caleb Kwong

it was a fun ride and im not a big fan of the waits but we thankfuly had fast pass but the ride is to short and does not have theming witch is dissoponting and on the block brakes it felt...

mr random coaster person O'Connor
Height fear

i was regretting going on Tatsu.

TYLER L

Closed my eyes for half the ride; the position looking down triggered fear of heights.

Amanda O.
Motion sickness risk

This ride made me pretty disoriented every time I rode it, even more than X2.

Austin L.

I will never forget that sight and it made me feel even more sick and disoriented than I already felt.

Neily Green

Should I ride it?

Organize by

Specifications

170 ftHeight
235 Goliath 188 Viper 170 Tatsu 164 FullThrottle 156 Riddler'sRevenge 150 Scream!
111 ftFirst drop
255 Goliath 171 Viper 146 Riddler'sRevenge 141 Scream! 128 TwistedColossus 111 Tatsu
62 mphTop speed
Goliath85 Full Throttle70 Viper70 Riddler'sRevenge65 Scream!63 Tatsu62 085 mph
4Inversions

What riders say

Praised for

IntenseRider favouriteGreat inversionsGreat viewsSmooth rideGreat layoutComfortable

Criticised for

Long waitsToo intense for some

Super intense, being in the flying position most of the ride makes the layout more floaty at points, every element hits and the pretzel loop is demonic.

RThirtyEight Coasters, Captain Coaster review

This is such an overrated ride not only at magic mountain but in general.

Coaster Carl, Captain Coaster review

This is without a doubt the most overrated coaster at Magic Mountain.

Freespin, Captain Coaster review

This rollercoaster has a good layout above one of the nicer-looking areas of the park and there are some great near-miss moments on it.

Ivan M., Captain Coaster review

And then the pretzel loop comes out of nowhere and is 1000x more intense then the rest of the ride, causing me to gray out.

Ryan Armstrong, Captain Coaster review

Tatsu is very fun. You are just floating around gracefully until it tries to rip your head off with the world’s biggest pretzel loop.

tate nortman, Captain Coaster review

Photos

Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu during its repaint
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu's single rider entrance
Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0
Tatsu at Six Flags Magic Mountain
Jeremy Thompson from United States of America, CC BY 2.0

11 photographs. Swipe or drag sideways.

Planning your ride

History and awards

May 13, 2006Opened

Built by Bolliger & Mabillard.

$21 millionTo build

Golden Ticket Awards, top steel coaster: ranked in 10 polls, 2006 to 2019

40th2006, its first poll
28th2012, its best placing
49th2019, most recent

Sources

Restraint types: Captain Coaster. History, incidents and awards: Wikipedia. Height requirement: Six Flags Magic Mountain. Specifications and status: Coasterpedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Also read: Captain Coaster (converted to feet and mph). Rider sentiment and performance scores: rider reviews on Captain Coaster, youtube.com, read and scored by AirtimeFever.

Photographs via Wikimedia Commons: Jeremy Thompson from United States of America (CC BY 2.0), Jeremy Thompson (CC BY 2.0). Video thumbnails remain the property of their channels and link back to them.

Live wait times: Powered by Queue-Times.com.

Quote at the top of the page: Coaster Voyager, YouTube video.

What riders love, by theme (themes in the order riders pick them most on Captain Coaster): Zach Payne, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It feels like you're flying until the pretzel loop…”; Majorian, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The pretzel loop feels like an African bush elephant…”; Max S., rider review on Captain Coaster: “I recorded all POVs of my time at the…”; Elijah Bacelieri, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Tatsu literally feels like its trying to kill you,…”; Jamie Newton, rider review on Captain Coaster: “It is glass smooth, and so graceful, especially as…”; Jack L, rider review on Captain Coaster: “The inversions are all highlights, with the graceful ones…”; Ivan M., rider review on Captain Coaster: “There's a sternum-crushing pretzel loop that makes your feet…”; Eric Esty, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Forceful first drop into back to back Corkscrews in…”; Joshua, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Even though it’s only 170 ft tall, when you’re…”; Erik C., rider review on Captain Coaster: “You fly over trees and walkways, twisting towards the…”; Elan Godoy, rider review on Captain Coaster: “You’re twisting and turning over the forest like a…”; Panthrpants, rider review on Captain Coaster: “This is a flyer built on top of a…”; Your Coaster Friend, rider review on Captain Coaster: “Letting go with your arms out in front of…”.

The photo slider at the top and the fading stills: Theme Park POV's back row POV, Dec 2022 Tatsu Flying Roller Coaster at Night On Ride Back Seat 4K POV Six Flags Magic Mountain (YouTube), and the page's Wikimedia Commons photographs.